30,000 vs 500,000: Xiang Yu’s Stunning Defeat of Liu Bang | Silk and Steel

JJ (0:01)

Welcome to another episode of the Silk and Steel Podcasts Chinese History Series, where we talk about Chinese history from the deepest antiquity to what we optimistically hope will be the present day, thereabouts. I am the perpetual guest, JJ, and welcoming us back is Carl, back in Bali after a minor escapade during his Shanghai travels, but he's a light casualty, so he should be OK.

Carl Zha (0:30)

I am a tough old man. They only broke the rest of my right.

Back in the 205 BC, Liu Bang has broke through his entrapment in the Sichuan Basin by marching north across the Qinlin Mountains to strike into the Qin Heartland, where the three surrendered Qin generals who had been made kings by Xiang Yu. They fell very quickly. The two of the three surrendered. Zhang Han, the main guy, he was trapped in his fortress at Wuqiu by Han Xin. And this siege will last for eight months, but Liu Bang did not wait because within one month, he basically captured all the former Qin land except this one lone holdout by Zhang Han. So Liu Bang let all his army out east, you know, within one month while he left Han Xin behind, he's continuing to besiege Zhang Han. And very quickly, the other kings joined him or surrendered to him because, you know, many people are not satisfied with how Xiang Yu divvied up the spoils of the Qin dynasty. And, you know, one particular king is the king of Wei. Wei Bao, his older brother, was a former king of Wei, Wei Jiu, who had to commit suicide when he was defeated by Zhang Han. And then Wei Bao was able to restore the Wei state when he received some troops from Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Liang. And then Xiang Yu defeated the Qin army at Battle of Jugu. But Xiang Yu has other plans for the land of Wei because he was eyeing the most fertile part of the Wei state, the part to its east. So he took that for himself and he made the King of Wei, Wei Bao, the King of West Wei. So he only gave him like the rank, like a like a rump state, a rump Wei state and not even the most productive part. So Wei Bao wasn't happy with that. So as soon as Liu Bang crossed the Yellow River, Wei Bao had come over to him. And a couple of Zhao generals that was made kings by Xiang Yu also surrendered. The Zhao general Sima Ang and another Zhao general Sen Bao, they just, because Liu Bang just had a much larger size army, Xiao He had to mobilize over 100,000 recruits for him. And very quickly, Liu Bang was marching east. Another reason he's moving quickly, because Liu Bang's troops want to go home. Most of them came from the east, so they have a big incentive to go back to their hometown, to secure their families.

And also Liu Bang's own band, who is like right now deep in Xiang Yu's territory. And Liu Bang was able to secure the surrender of a rebel, a former rebel leader, Wang Lin. So Wang Lin was actually an old apprentice of Liu Bang. They all grew up in the city of Feng. Wang Lin, just like the other guy, Yongzhi, who had betrayed Liu Bang, is from the local prominent band. So they kind of looked down on Liu Bang, because Liu Bang comes from the fallen aristocracy. His Liu Bang family. But Yongzhi and Wang Lin forced him from the local prominent family, and they only joined Liu Bang because of the circumstances, because Liu Bang was promoted as leader, but they didn't really like to follow Liu Bang's command. So later, Wang Lin kind of became his own independent man of the rebels, and he controlled the Nanyang region. Nanyang region is a former Chu, part of the former Chu territories, through which Liu Bang struck into the Qing Heartland, through the Wuguan Pact.

And so Wang Lin was left behind to administer the region, but when Liu Bang's army came out east, Wang Lin quickly offered his surrender. So Wang Lin wanted to secure curry favor with his new boss, Liu Bang. So he led an army to strike east, trying to secure Liu Bang's family. But his army was met by Xiang Yu's general and was pushed back. And Xiang Yu was able to capture Wang Lin's mom. And so Xiang Yu wanted to use Wang Lin's mom as a leverage against Wang Lin. Maybe persuade Wang Lin to either stand aside or even defect over to him. And Wang Lin sent his own envoy to Xiang Yu's camp to see if he could negotiate for his mom's release. And when the envoy secretly met with Wang Lin's mom, Wang Lin's mom told the envoy, like, look, the king of Han is a good man, a good leader. You should follow him. Don't worry about me. I'm already old.